Game 1 boxscore
Game 2 boxscore

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- The Slippery Rock University baseball team completed its four-game series sweep of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division rival Clarion with 4-3 and 10-2 wins Saturday at Jack Critchfield Park.

Saturday's wins came on the heels of 15-0 and 6-0 wins Friday over the Golden Eagles and moved SRU back to the .500 mark in both overall record (10-10) and PSAC-West record (4-4).

Clarion suffered its eighth and ninth straight losses and saw its season records fall to 1-9 overall, 0-4 against division rivals.

The Rock will look to continue its winning ways Monday when it hosts Washington Adventist University (formerly Columbia Union University) in a 1 p.m. non-conference twinbill at Jack Critchfield Park.

Unlike the other three games in the weekend series, The Rock had to battle tooth and nail to record the win in Saturday's first game.

Clarion jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Mark White singled to open the game, stole second base and scored on an RBI single to right field by Jason Krimsky.

The Rock tied the game at one in the bottom of the fourth inning when sophomore left fielder Carter Haponski, who reached first after being hit by a pitch, scored on a double to the left field wall by junior shortstop Adam Jury.

Clarion regained the lead in the fifth inning when Nate Weiss hit a sacrifice fly down the left field line to score Dane Dobson, who had led off the inning with a single.

SRU matched the Golden Eagles in the bottom of the fifth when freshman third baseman Jamison Walck led off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore right fielder Matt Kosik, moved to third on a passed ball and was awarded home on a balk.

The Rock took the lead for good in the sixth inning when Matt Howard led off the inning with a staggering line-drive, solo home run deep over the left-center field fence for the third run. Haponski was hit by another pitch and scored two batters later when Jury reached base on an error.

Clarion plated one run in the top of the seventh inning and stranded runners on first and third base to end the game.

Howard and Walck each finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate, while Howard and Jury were credited with the lone Rock RBIs in the game.

Senior right-hander Don Pugliese went the distance on the mound to earn his first win of the season. He allowed two earned runs on 10 hits and struck out seven batters.

Clarion's Brandon Slater was charged with the loss after he allowed four runs on five hits and struck out two in five innings of work. Luke Prazenica allowed one hit and no runs in one inning.

Clarion also took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning of the second game, but this time The Rock answered back with six runs in the bottom of the first to take firm control of things.

Jason Krimsky's RBI double to left center plated Mark White for the first run of the game and Clarion's short-lived lead. White got into scoring position as the result of being hit by a pitch to leadoff the game and being moved up one base each by a sacrifice bunt and a ground out.

Howard then led off the bottom of the first inning to start The Rock comeback. He moved to third on a ground out by Haponski and scored on a ground out by junior catcher/first baseman Derek DiRuscia to tie the score at 1-1.

The Rock then scored five runs with two outs, keyed by RBI singles by Walck and senior second baseman Billy Messer and a three-run home run by sophomore catcher John Murray, his first roundtripper of the season.

Leading 6-1 after one inning, The Rock tacked on three more tallies in the bottom of the second to expand its advantage to eight runs. Key hits in that uprising were an RBI double by junior right fielder Mitchell Monas and an RBI single by Murray.

Clarion got one run back in the top of the third inning, thanks to a sacrifice fly by Krimsky, before Murray had his third hit of the game and collected his fifth RBI with an infield single to plate Jury, who had tripled, with the final run of the day.

Jury and Howard each had two hits to complement Murray's effort as the leader of a 12-hit Rock attack.

Senior right-hander Vince Lloyd was The Rock's starting and winning pitcher. He allowed two earned runs on five hits, struck out four and walked two in six innings.

Senior righty Justin Thomas induced ground balls from all three batters he faced in the top of the seventh to close out the game.

Notes: Walck batted .500 in the weekend series with seven hits in 14 at bats. He also picked up six RBIs and scored five runs. In the process, he took over the team lead in batting average with a .403 mark for the season. He has collected 13 RBIs in the first 20 games and ranks second behind DiRuscia (16) in that category. Howard has 12 RBIs, Messer 11 and Kosik and Oswalt 10 each ... DiRuscia also has a team-best 11 doubles to his credit ... Howard leads the team in home runs with four, followed by DiRuscia and Kosik with two each ... Howard and Messer share the team lead in triples with two each ... Freshman southpaw Joby Lapkowicz had a team-best 2.95 ERA, followed by junior right-hander George Hebert at 3.08 and Pugliese at 3.79 ... Lapkowicz also leads leads the pitching staff in strikeouts with 27, followed by Lloyd with 22, Hebert 21 and Pugliese 20.